


Reading True Love

by krzed



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Tarot, implied Chlonath, implied Kimax, implied julerose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-26 06:19:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12551052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krzed/pseuds/krzed
Summary: Juleka loves doing Tarot readings for her friends, but something strange happens when she does a reading for Marinette.





	Reading True Love

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: I am not a practitioner of Tarot. I know next to nothing about the cards nor do I claim to. Everything I wrote about in this fic was based on about 45 minutes of Google research and my own interpretations of the cards and their meanings. It is not my intention to offend anyone who uses Tarot cards. I simply read a scenario similar to this in a book a long time ago and thought it would be an interesting backdrop for some Miraculous fluff.

Juleka's parents may not have approved of her use of Tarot cards, but she still enjoyed giving her friends free readings after school. Her favorites were doing readings on potential romantic relationships, and truly sparked everyone's interest when the cards foretold Kim ending up with Max instead of Alix like everyone expected. And surprising literally no one, the cards read that Rose and Juleka were destined for each other.

Juleka turned over the last card of her reading and frowned. “The Sun, inverted. This can signify loneliness, disillusionment.” She looked up at Nathanaël. “Combined with the inverted Tower I revealed for 'relationship weaknesses', this may mean that...” She glanced down at his sketchbook, a portrait of Queen Bee poking out of the side. “...that you will learn something about the object of your affections that will change how you see her.” She returned her eyes to Nathanaël's. “You must be prepared to accept this change. That's the only way you'll be together.”

He nodded, though didn't seem to sure about the meaning of her reading. He stood from the park table and wandered off, but Juleka didn't have time to focus on him before Alya forced Marinette to sit on the bench across from her.

“One reading, if you please!” Alya said, her hands not leaving Marinette's shoulders.

“Alya...” Marinette moaned.

“Oh, don't tell me you're not curious as to how things will turn out with a certain someone...” Alya leaned over Marinette's shoulder, a wicked grin on her face, but the designer would not meet her gaze.

Juleka shrugged. “If you don't want a reading, I won't-”

“Okay I do want to know!” Marinette blurted out as she slammed her palms onto the table. “Will we get married? When? How many kids will we have? Will they have my eyes or his? Will we-”

“Hold on, Marinette,” Juleka chuckled, raising her hand to stem the tide of the girl's questions. “That's not how Tarot works. It's not a direct map of your future.” She shuffled the cards as she spoke. “It's more of a guide that can help you examine your life from a different perspective.” She grinned through her bangs. “So, you want to know how things will turn out with Adrien?”

Marinette paled, then smiled awkwardly and blew a raspberry through her lips.. “Pbbt, what? Adrien? Who said anything about Adrien?”

“It's okay Marinette, we all know.”

Marinette attempted some thin excuse, but finally conceded, and Alya sat beside her as Juleka continued to shuffle. As she did so, she caught a glimpse of angry blue eyes boring holes into her from across the park. Chloé had gotten better over the past few months, nicer and more supportive to her classmates, but she still _hated_ Marinette and balked at the idea of Adrien being with her. Not that she liked Adrien romantically anymore. Juleka had caught her staring at Nathanaël on more than one occasion- and in turn had a vague idea of who Queen Bee really was- but that didn't mean she supported her archnemesis romancing her oldest friend. Chloé glared at Juleka and drew a single finger across her throat. The message was clear.

Juleka shuffled the deck a bit more before dealing out six of cards; two side by side, three in a row below them, and a single card below that. She pointed to the top left card, then the top right. “These represent you and Adrien.” She lowered her finger to the row of three, left to right. “This is the forces that bring you together. This one is the strengths of your relationship, this one the weaknesses.” He finger dropped to the bottom card. “This...this is called the True Love card. This tells us whether or not a relationship between you two will last.”

Juleka moved back to the first card and flipped it over. “Hmm, Strength.”

Alya giggled. “Strength? This beanpole?” Marinette jabbed her elbow into her friend's ribs.

“It doesn't mean physical strength. It means inner strength. Willpower. A capacity for forgiveness and compassion.”

“Yeah, that sounds more like her.” Alya glanced over, but Marinette only blushed at the compliments.

Juleka turned over Adrien's card. “Oh, the Wheel of Fortune, inverted.”

“Inverted?” Marinette looked from the card to Juleka. “What does that mean?”

“When a card is upside-down, it takes on a new meaning. It normally represents chance and change, for better or worse, but inverted it means bad luck and forces beyond your control.” Juleka furrowed her brow. “It's also not the best of omens. It's usually a portent of some natural disaster, a cataclysm on the horizon.”

“Adrien doesn't have a lot of control over his schedule,” Marinette said. “That sounds about right.”

Juleka nodded and flipped over the first card of the next row. “The World. Overcoming hardships together, facing trials together, all of your experiences together coming full circle, that is what draws you two closer together.”

Marinette smiled and waited for Juleka to reveal the next card. Juleka glanced behind Marinette again and noticed Chloe stood a little closer, a look of fury on her face. That was obviously not the reading Chloé wanted to hear, but what did she expect Juleka to do? “Next is...Temperance. This represents balance and harmony. That is what makes your relationship strong; you two complement one another. Your personalities and energies work well together.

“Now, for the weaknesses...the High Priestess inverted.” Juleka gnawed at her lip. “Usually the High Priestess means revealing truths, but inverted...”

“We're, uh,” Marinette stuttered with her eyes wide. “We're...keeping secrets from one another?”

“Well, you _are_ keeping your crush a secret,” Alya pointed out.

“It's more than that,” Juleka said. “There is a great truth that must be revealed for your relationship to flourish. What it is, I don't know. Just know that this is the only way you and Adrien can be happy together.”

Marinette nodded, and gulped as Juleka reached for the bottom card. The True Love card. Juleka's eyes darted back to Chloé, then down to the card. She lifted it from the table, flipped it over, and revealed...

“The...Lovers.” Juleka's eyes went wide. “This...this is the most powerful love sign. It represents love and union on a cosmic scale. With...with The World, this means that every single hardship you face together will be overcome.” She shook her head. “Sometimes The Lovers means taking differing paths in your relationship, and with the inverted High Priestess, I'd warn that you not let those secrets move you down divergent paths, but...” She looked up at Marinette. “This card in this position means...you and Adrien are soul mates.”

Marinette looked on the verge of fainting and Chloé looked on the verge of murder. Juleka gathered her cards and excused herself while Marinette danced and Chloe ground her teeth together. She remained silent on her walk home, only pausing in her thoughts to shoot a text off to Rose about their date the next night. When she arrived home, she greeted her parents and told them she would be in her room until dinner. She closed the door, dropped her backpack beside it, then lowered her eyes to the deck of cards in her hand.

She strode over to her desk and scattered the cards across it. She sorted through each of the twenty-two cards and put them back in the order she knew they were in after Nathanaël's reading. She shuffled, the cards dancing between her practiced hands, then she dealt the first six cards from the top of the deck.

Strength, inverted Wheel, The World, Temperance, inverted Priestess...

Hierophant.

She stared down at the card in disbelief and reset the deck. She shuffled again and dealt again.

 _Hierophant_.

Juleka pressed a palm against her mouth and shook her head. This was the card she was supposed to draw. This was exactly how she'd shuffled the cards.

Over the years, Juleka had learned how to memorize card orders and shuffle decks in such a way that she could control which cards she drew. Initially it was to give Rose positive readings when she was feeling down, but it eventually turned into her playing a sort of mystical 'matchmaker'. She would admit to stacking the deck with Kim and Max, and she thought Chloé and Nathanaël would make a cute couple, but with Adrien and Marinette...

She knew Strength and the inverted Wheel would match them perfectly. The World was a good relationship card in general, so it was a safe play. Temperance seemed appropriate, since their personalities _did complement_ one another: soft and submissive Adrien to loud and dominant Marinette. The inverted High Priestess had been a bit of a gamble, since she had noticed the two of them sneak off in the middle of class, and sometimes even during Akuma attacks, so she knew they harbored secrets. But secrets were dangerous for any relationship.

She shuffled the Hierophant into the sixth position mostly to appease Chloé. It still represented unions and meaningful relationships, just not necessarily romantic. It would give Marinette hope while still not confirming her and Adrien as a couple. Juleka couldn't understand as she shuffled the cards and dealt the Hierophant for the third time. Try as she might, again and again, she couldn't recreate any series of shuffles, any mistake she could have made to put The Lovers in the sixth position. After the fifth time revealing the Hierophant, she turned her eyes to the deck, then picked it up and turned it over.

The bottom card was The Lovers. Exactly where she put it.

That was what stunned Juleka when she revealed it during Marinette's reading. She intentionally put The Lovers on the bottom of the deck so there was no way she could draw it and attract Chloé's wrath. But it somehow made its way to the sixth position in the deck. The True Love position. This meant Fate had determined that Adrien and Marinette were truly soul mates...

And there was no way a little goth girl with quick fingers and a deck of cards could conceal that truth.


End file.
